Blathers Investigates!
by Kisatine
Summary: The bodies of the human residents that lived in the village of Scandal are discovered. Blathers must adopt the characteristics of his fictional hero Sherlock Bones and find out who the murderer is before he too falls prey to them.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.

Prologue - Scandal

The village of Scandal had been in a sorry state for the past year; wherever you walked weeds were sure to tangle around your feet, cockroaches lurked in corners ready to mug you, and the villagers had devolved into mutterers. No one felt it right to shout loudly or laugh; it was as if they had automatically fallen into a state of mourning.

Yet nobody had died except...

June and August were missing.

The human brother and sister duo once walked through Scandal everyday, went about their business, talked to the other villagers, and paid their mortgage off of course, however, they suddenly became antisocial; their neighbours only saw them once a week, then once a month, until their letterbox was overflowing and the door never opened at all. When a curious animal peered into the window there was no furniture and the only living thing in there was a rat who saluted to them.

Tom Nook was getting furious it seemed to the others;

"There's an outstanding fine on the mortgage!" He'd always shout whenever someone broached the topic.

The museum was empty; no one had donated anything.

Scandal was a wreck; humans from nearby villages gave it a wide berth.

Teddy had lived in Scandal ever since its creation and had been one of the few friends that August and June had; over those few months they had spoken to one another they had given him a key to the house. Hope that they might be on holiday or busy with school had stopped him from using it earlier. So much time had passed however that the chocolate coloured bear felt he had to just go inside and check.

Maybe they simply got bored of this place and moved without telling someone? Teddy doubted it.

His thoughts niggled at him and told him something was wrong; his muscles were shivering at the atmosphere as he entered the dusty house. Teddy flexed his pecs at the thought of running away however, this muscle machine wouldn't be fearful of an empty building!

Yet when he went upstairs, into the bedroom, the bear discovered that he wasn't as alone as he believed he was. On the twin beds there lay a twin body on each. Blue eyes wide open. Blonde hair fanned out. While a hand slap of congealed blood rested on top of their chests.

Blathers glanced up and let the fishing rod relax in his hands from shock when he heard a very loud, very growly, scream.


	2. Blathers

Disclaimer - Don't own. Don't sue.

Chapter 1 - Blathers

The Oxfordian owl did not usually wander outside of the safety of the museum, however, if Blathers wanted to keep his job there then he'd have to bring in exhibits himself. Besides, his sister was fed up with cooking their supper all of the time and he could only cook fish.

Already there was small tanks scattered around him as he swung his talons just above the river water; he'd only managed to find one new breed while the rest was pairs upon pairs of common species that were in the museum vaults at this very moment. At the thought of the swimmers by his side the owl's tongue swirled out slightly to lick his beak. All he had to do now was buy some chips and then...

That was the point when he heard Teddy scream; Blathers very nearly dropped his fishing rod into the water at the sudden sound. He shivered at the scream's piercing nature and stood; wondering if he should hurry over to the source in case someone was injured. But what good would he do? Sable had some medical training, apparently there were a lot of accidents in the sewing industry, perhaps he should go get her? Blathers quivered and rubbed his feathers in agitation; he wanted to run back to the museum and get his sister -

The screaming had stopped.

A cold chilly dread snaked its way around his stomach.

Had the screamer simply run out of air? Or had something worse happened to them?

With a crazed flutter of his wings Blathers hurried over to where the noise had originated from. Perhaps he could peck whatever had caused the person to scream if it decided to turn on him? With a blink of confusion he realised he was heading for June and August's house, however, he concluded it was the right place when he noticed several other animals cautiously padding in the same direction.

He entered the house, not letting a pause to examine the front of the house make him chicken out, and climbed the stairs with a booming heart. As his eyes took in the scene he saw Teddy first, the one who was always so strong, cowering in the corner and trying to look away from the beds; though his eyes kept on flicking back to that horrid scene.

Blathers had to hold in a gasp himself; he had never been reacquainted with such a scene since Oxford. It felt wrong to see it in this nice quiet place; his peaceful visions of Scandal had been shattered. His heart quickened at the memories of Oxford,

"Teddy."

The bear glanced up at the animal who had called his name, and at the sight of someone else witnessing his fear, he straightened up. His voice still quavered however,

"Y-Yeah?"

"Why don't you come downstairs with me?"

With a nod Teddy shakily arose and hurried over to the stairs, where Blathers stood aside to let him pass, he followed after the bear as they walked down into the next room. There was a rotting cardboard box that was placed directly beneath the window; this was where the owl sat Teddy down. Who was still breathing rather hysterically.

"Now, now, calm down, hoot." Blathers twittered. "Everyone's going to be here soon and you wouldn't want them to see you in this way, right?"

"No... Thanks, Blathers."

The owl hooted,

"Stay down here, don't let it get too crowded when they come inside."

Blathers didn't really want to go back up there, however, a part of him needed to have a quick peek at the situation; just to see what had happened. He could remember grim evenings as a child, with his sister asleep besides him in the police car, watching his father out of the window go about his work; interrogating suspects and taking down witness statements.

Nothing had changed in that bloody scene, besides the removal of Teddy, and it still felt unreal to Blathers; outside the birds were singing with the sun creeping inside and evaporating under the intensity of the shadows. He moved a little closer to the corpses, wishing it didn't smell so much like mould in here, and even with a glance his mind registered everything and noted it down.

The cobwebs and dust obviously meant a great deal of time had passed in this room; it may even be a year Blathers mused. Those wounds, which were directly where the heart was, looked like a stab wound in appearance; though there was a possibility that the cause of death could have been something else, with the stabbing used to mask it. Nothing in the room had been disturbed; if the twin's eyes had not been open you would have assumed they were asleep.

If Scandal had more residents then they could have called themselves a town; yet, besides Teddy, there were only two more residents. While the rest of their population consisted of the animals who worked in their shops, the village hall, and the museum.

Five in all; Pelly, Filbert, Mable, Nook, and Blaire hurried over to the humans' house and saw Teddy's head in the window. Their chattering becoming loud as they reached the door.

"It sounded as if someone was being killed!" Mable exclaimed as she passed the threshold. Teddy shivered at her words.

"Someone has been." He muttered. "June and August."

"Wh - What?"

"They've been stabbed." Blathers' voice could be heard as he slowly walked down the stairs. With each breath he nervously glanced side to side as if the murderer could still be in here with them. The animals, sans Teddy, gasped at the owl's deduction; several of them had lived in different towns and villages throughout their life, however, none of them had encountered such violence.

Blathers had not been as lucky as them.

"Now." He began, clacking his beak. "I don't want anyone else going up there, wot, the evidence still needs to be analysed and collected."

"But I want to see!" Blaire called out.

"That, my dear, would be most problematic for Blathers if you did go up those stairs." Everyone turned at the sound of this new voice, which had the steady tap of a cane following it.


End file.
